Dana News

This generosity practice came to us from sangha member Jim Katz in Boston. Thanks Jim!

This practice is along the lines of the book exchange from last month. We all have many beautiful pieces that might not have a lot of intrinsic value, and that we have grown so accustomed to seeing around the house that we don’t see them anymore.

You can host an art exchange either at your home or at your Shambhala Centre where you encourage sangha members to bring in these art pieces. Each item is put on display and is offered for long-term loan or as a general offering to an interested sangha member who also brought something in. We can borrow and lend each other our objects of art.

As an act of brave generosity, people could bring their own work that may or may not be gallery ready and show it, with the possibility of others seeing it in a new home.

Often when a visiting Tibetan teacher or acharya comes to town, sangha members are inspired to travel to your local centre to hear them teach. Why not offer your spare bedroom, couch, inflatable bed, or floor to these individuals to save them the cost of staying in a hotel?

You can include a page on your Shambhala Centre’s website that makes it known that certain sangha members in your community would be happy to host people visiting from out of town for a Shambhala Training Level or a late night talk. Let your Centre Director or Coordinator know if you would like to offer your home in this way and talk to friends who might follow suit.

By offering your home, not only you are saving other people money, but your offer also may inspire people who were on the fence about making the trip to experience the dharma. Often they are newer students who do not know the local sangha. Without this gesture of generosity, they may never experience the richness of your centre at all!

Consider opening your doors to the greater sangha; you may find it’s like hosting your own family.

While not everyone has a lot of money to give to local charities these days, we all tend to have old books sitting on our shelves collecting dust. These are treasures long forgotten and not likely to be read again. Why not offer them to someone who will make good use of them by donating them to a local school or library?

If you have children, this is a great way to inspire their own generosity by asking them if they would like to give any books away to a local elementary school or children’s hospital.

To multiply the gesture, why not organize a book drive at your local Shambhala Centre? Just place a large cardboard box somewhere visible in your community room or post-meditation hall and include a sign indicating what the box is for and where the books will be going. For added effect, include the news of your book drive in any newsletters or e-mail announcements that go out from your centre.

Here are some good organizations to give your books to:

www.booksfirst.org
www.pageahead.org
www.bookends.org
www.booksforamerica.org

If you want your books to go to a local cause, search your area for a literacy organization near you!

A key aspect of the Dana Group’s mission statement is promoting generosity throughout the Shambhala sangha. At our second annual in-person meeting we had an in-depth discussion on how the economic crisis has been effecting Shambhalians worldwide. We recognized that while not everyone is able to give as much financially as they have in previous years the desire to give has not been reduced. We agreed that one thing the group can offer is a fresh and creative way to be generous in your local community each month without having to spend too much money. This website will compile these suggestions.

If you have a generosity practice you would like to include please let us know. If you wish to include any of these practices at your local centre please contact your Centre Director or Coordinator.